Be Careful Out There

 Visit #1613, Sunday 9 August 26, 6:10-8:05 a.m., 3.5 miles, 4.9 lbs. of litter.

As this article from The Economist points out, a lot can go wrong on the trail and help isn't five minutes away.

Besides the more life threatening things that can happen, you might trip over a fallen tree or get scratches on your face as you brush by a bent branch. This week I removed some of those safety hazards.

Personally, I carry a first aid kid, a special blood clot kit when I bring my chainsaw, compass, emergency whistle, food, water, and a sense of direction!

The first two trees I encountered I wasn't made aware of last week because I didn't hike this particular trail. Which is why I choose this trail this week since I had the big tools with me.

Fact is, I didn't need my chainsaw on these two above; my folding saw is proves itself time and again that it can handle many of the smaller jobs.

This third tree fell this past week and here I did begin using my chainsaw.

Now on to what I was made aware of during last week's hike.

Here it is in mid-removal.

And last...

All done to lessen your potential for injury. However, if you get lost or aren't wearing the proper clothes, you're on your own. Be careful out there!

Workarounds

 Sunday's humidity was so thick not only could you see it, you could sit on it.

Visit #1611, Saturday 1 August 26, 6:10-7:00 a.m., mileage and litter n/a.

Temps in the low 70s, cloudy and extremely humid.

Visit #1612, Sunday 2 August 26, 6:00-8:15 a.m., 4.8 miles, 2.6 lbs. of litter.

Weather same as Saturday.

Correction:  A couple weeks ago I commented on the spread of wild raspberries on the trails. Well, blog reader Mike reached through the phone to give me a dope slap and correct me. Those are NOT wild raspberries; they are wineberries. Thanks, Mike; my cheeks are healing just fine.

Last week I found a lot of new graffiti on road signs and elsewhere around Merimere Reservoir. I couldn't remove it all then, so I rode my mountain bike into the park early Saturday morning to address it. By going early I avoided the worst of the humidity, and the attention of people.

I started cleaning this sign last week but my chemical remover was also taking off the black.

Rather than make things worse, I merely sprayed black paint over everything.

I won't bore you with After photos, but here are all the tags I removed.

All those tags were done by the same person/group.

Other reasons why I rode my mountain bike to the park to do this work were, by lashing it to the street sign I could stand on my bike like a stepladder to easily reach the sign, and it was much quicker than on foot.

All that graffiti removal took its toll on my rag and I had to trash it.

An interesting sight on this early Saturday morning: It was 6:25 a.m. and I found this e-bike locked to the guardrail by a trailhead. I was immediately suspicious.

Some time after I finished removing all the graffiti and was heading back to the park, the e-bike rider passed me.

When I returned to Hubbard Park on Sunday morning, I was curious to see whether the e-bike would be at the same location, at a similar time. Guess what...

...different e-bike, similar time and locked at the same location. The e-bike was also gone when I passed by the site later in my hike, at roughly the same time I saw him Saturday.

With my interest piqued, rather than follow my original plan, I decided to hike one of the two trails which branch off in the background of the photo, expecting to find SOMETHING.

I came up empty in my quest, but I still suspect something's up. I'm going to keep an eye on this.

Also of note on Saturday, someone (not me!) has taken to placing natural debris adjacent to the speed bumps, presumably to thwart drivers who drive around them. I thought it was funny!

On Sunday I returned to the park through the north end because the Puerto Rican Festival in Hubbard Park limited parking.

I found and removed more of Hubbard Park's Tchotchke Vandal's junk.

And it's a good thing I followed his trail. It lead me to another trail and...

... and newly fallen tree. Here you see it after I did some trimming to make it easier to pass by. 

And it wasn't the only fallen tree I found on the trails Sunday.

All of which means an upcoming Power Tool Weekend®.

I also found Cat Graffiti #39 since November 2016.

Cat Graffiti #x will hereafter be known as Cat Patootie #x after it was given that name by blog reader and Big Y cashier, Susan. Incidentally, the word patootie does not appear in my Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary but does appear in the Oxford English Dictionary. I was ripped off.

And finally, a piece of Hubbard Park history.

While chatting with an older Hubbard Park regular on Saturday he pointed out this following tidbit:

Old guardrails in Hubbard Park were of the wood and cable variety; many still stand.

In one particular section it's not wood but steel. Why the change?

Well, prior to 1970 or so, the road around Merimere Reservoir was open to traffic 24/7. At this particular spot, around 1968 two individuals in a car failed to negotiate the road, flipped their car, ended up in the reservoir, and died. To make the guardrail more resistant to this kind of result, the guardrail at this spot was replaced with the metal pipes you see. The person who told me this story said it was true because he (about 8 years old at the time) and his father drove by the location the day after the accident to rubberneck at the aftermath.

Down to the basement I go, to prep my chainsaw for next week.

Playscapes

 

They're not all the same.

Visit #1610, Sunday 26 July 26, 6:15-9:35 a.m., 5.3 miles, 4.3 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, sunny and dry.

In a previous post I commented and posted a photo about playscapes of yore versus today, where the children are protected from injury and the cities from lawsuits.

In a recent edition of The Economist magazne, I read Scandinavia has a different take on playscapes. It's a funny and interesting read, reprinted below. If you're computer savvy you can enlarge the article to make it easier to read.

Hubbard Park is MY playscape; sharp tools, tick bites, snakes, paint mess, and other potential harm aligns me closer to Scandinavia than America. In fact, I sorta look like the kid in the article above, after my hikes.

Last week I noticed some duplicate graffiti on the I-691 walkbridge. I was not able to remove all of it then so this week I came equipped to do so.

Enroute to the walkbridge I found this tag from national parks literature, and it was apparently addressed to me.

Ironically, the backside of the tag suggests volunteering at a park, which is somewhat contradictory to leaving things like this lying trailside. I do appreciate being recognized for my work, however.

At the walkbridge I found Cat Graffiti #38 since November 2016.

Before getting down to painting, I removed it.

As to the graffiti painting; I was not paying attention. Last week I pointed out the wax pencil tag was a duplicate of a spray painted tag at the far end of the walkbridge. What I noticed this week was the same tag was at the bollard end of the bridge as well. Compare them and see if you agree. I set up and went to work on both.

Incidentally, I weighed my backpack today after a conversation with a hiker got me curious. Today's load was a whopping 30.3 lbs.!

I was heading up to West Peak today. Nearing the top I encountered a wood frog who was patient enough to pose for me.

I hiked down a trail that led to the apparent logging project that's going on so I could confirm my suspicions.

I did find more tags and trees marked.

At the bottom I found a bag of trash.

I'm sure this trash belongs to the logger not because of all the Dunkin' cups and empty energy drink containers but because of the empty container of hydraulic fluid.

Since I found all this some distance from their equipment, I relocated everything closer so they would not forget to remove it.

Exiting the trail, I found new graffiti on the street sign. I've removed graffiti from this sign before.

The wax pencil proved tougher than my on-hand remedies and in the process I was removing the black paint. I found this tag in several other locations today. I plan to return next week to my playscape ready to play hardball.